Shiv Sena MPs hit a new low by forcing a man to break his Ramzan fast

There was uproar in Lok Sabha yesterday, which is common enough. But it was an uncommon matter that caused the dust-up this time around. Some MPs had forced a Muslim to break his Ramzan fast. He was serving as an Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation employee at the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi. A group of Shiv Sena MPs unhappy with the food on offer insisted that this catering supervisor try it out himself and force-fed him. Even to those having grown inured to Shiv Sena’s frequent loutishness, this incident hits a dishonourable new low.

BJP and Shiv Sena were incoherently defensive. Even as the parliamentary affairs minister was saying this issue could not be discussed as nobody knew the facts, TV flashed images of the forced feeding. Even if one were to give them the benefit of the doubt and accept that the MPs had no idea the catering supervisor was Muslim or fasting for Ramzan, assaulting government employees is still unconscionable hooliganism.

For aam admi and aurat it is a daily matter to encounter services that fall short of their expectations — not just at restaurants but also at schools, banks, airports and of course government offices. Imagine if all the waiters, teachers, tellers and pilots as well as their customers took up cudgels every time they were annoyed by each other. In fact, MPs are in a far more powerful position than ordinary people to effect change if they think something isn’t working. That they nevertheless resort to assault underlines how netas think of themselves as a class apart. Shiv Sena netas are particularly loutish in this regard because of decades of leniency towards their vandalism in Maharashtra. This time, however, the evidence is on record and they must be booked for assault.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.